A rural teenager was hired for a summer job by the general store in his town. The place sold everything, from food to dry goods to hardware, and also had a pharmacy, to boot.
On his first day, his boss gave him a tour of all the different “departments” in order to familiarize him with the stock and where it was kept, and put him to work helping the customers to find things. Observing things, the boss realized that the kid was a quick study – he was able to find anything customers asked about.
On his second day, the boss asked him if he knew anything about suggestive selling. He didn’t, so the boss told him to just observe, and he would show him how to sell a customer more than the customer originally thought he needed.
Just then, a man came in and said he wanted to buy some Grass seed. The boss said, "Well, we only carry one type, but it comes in three different sizes. There’s a five pound bag, and it costs $4; there’s a ten pound bag, and it costs $6; lastly, we have a 25 pound bag, and it’s a great deal today at only $10, but that sale price is only for today.
Naturally, the man selected the 25 pound bag, because $10 was indeed a great deal.
Then the boss says to the customer, “By the way, do you have fertilizer for your grass seed? If you want it to grow healthy, you’ve definitely got to get some fertilizer for it.”
The man answered that, no, he didn’t have any fertilizer, but it would definitely be logical to get some. There was only one size in stock, a ten pound bag, and it sold for $7, but that was fine, the customer said, he would take a bag.
Then the boss looks at the man and says, “Do you have a garden hose? When you plant that seed and fertilize it, you’re going to have to water it. And you know, garden hoses seldom last more than five or six years. It would be a shame to get all the way home and then have to come back because you found your garden hose was leaking all over the place…we have some on sale this week; I suggest the blue 50 foot one over there which is selling for only $22 right now, regular price is $32, so you save ten bucks.”
The man allowed that the hose he had at home was indeed old and possibly leaky, and yes, it would make good sense to get one now, especially since they were on sale, so he went and grabbed a hose and placed it on the counter.
The boss was ready to ring up the man’s purchases, when another thought occurred to him.
“You know, you’ve got the seed, you’ve got the fertilizer, and you’ve got a brand new garden hose to water it with, and that’s great, but you know, when that grass grows and gets too long, you’re going to have to cut it. Thinking about it all, I just realized that I have an overstock in lawn mowers from last summer. They’re sitting back in inventory, and while they’re there it’s just money tied up until they sell, which really doesn’t do me any good. If you’re interested, though, I could give you a great deal on one, just to blow it out of here. There’s one model in particular that I’ve got way too many of. It mulches, it has a back mounted grass catching bag if you don’t want to mulch, and it’s even got electric start, not one of those pull-start deals. Retail price on it was $499.99, wholesale was $249.99, but I’ll give it to you for $299.99, because I have to make a little profit, but what d’you say?”
The customer thought this was a great deal – almost half price! Nope, you couldn’t lose there, so he said he would take one. The boss went into the inventory room and returned, wheeling a brand new lawnmower in front of him. He then rang up the man’s purchases, which totalled $338.99 plus tax, and the customer paid him. The boss then told the kid to help the man take it all out to his truck, and the kid did.
After the customer had gone on his merry way, very happy with his purchases, the boss says to the kid, “Now, you see how suggestive selling works? Just keep suggesting things the customer likely needs but has forgotten about, and see what else you can sell him while he’s here. That guy probably would have been just as happy buying a $4 bag of grass seed, but I was able to easily talk him up to spending $338, just by being logical and suggesting things he probably knew he would need anyway. That’s how suggestive selling works!”
The kid was totally impressed, and asked the boss if he could try what he had learned on the next customer when he walked in. The boss, remembering what a quick study the kid was the day before agreed.
Just then the door opened and in walked a man. He walked over to the drugstore section and returned to the counter carrying a box of sanitary napkins, which he placed on the counter. The kid looked at him and said, “By the way, sir, we have this great sale on lawn mowers right now; are you interested?”
The customer looked at him and said, “Why the hell do you think I would be interested in buying a lawn mower???”
The kid looked at the man, down to the box of sanitary napkins on the counter, and back up at the man and said, “Well, you can’t do fuck all else this week, so you might as well cut the grass!”